Mr Bren says the recent Creswick floods were caused by a build up of water in all of the surrounding interconnecting waterways - Creswick Creek, Adekate Creek, Cosgrove Reservoir, St George's Lake and Slatey Creek - following heavy rainfall.

More than 100 Hepburn Shire properties were inundated with water last weekend, many of them homes and businesses in the centre of Creswick.

Mr Bren explains that the Creswick Creek once flowed through the centre of town, but miners in the 1850s rerouted the waterway.

He says the Creswick Creek fell back into its old course during the floods.

"That always causes havoc, because people forget that this is where the creek once went."

He says Creswick has a history of regular flooding.

"I think that part of the issue is that people have just forgotten that they're on a creek and the creek does flood."

Some local residents claim that floods could have been prevented if trees weren't recently planted along the Creswick Creek.

Mr Bren says trees do increase the hydraulic roughness of a waterway, which slows down the stream.

But he says heavy rainfall was the main cause for recent flooding.

"If the concept of beauty and naturalness is there, of course you're going to have hydraulic roughness there."